Point of clarification:: That mockup wasn't done by Lindsay D. She put out the call for people to make mockups, that's true. But that mockup was done by Lindsey S.
StevenHodson
· 7 months ago
thanks .. Lindsey S got a hold of me on FF and smacked me around for my mistake (j/k) I've since corrected the error and added her FF link
Chris Charabaruk
· 7 months ago
Steven, you hit the nail right on the head with this article. I'm really surprised that the FF team went and took the beta live when they did, especially with no notice. There's still a lot of feedback coming in from users about the beta, and for them to pretty much say "it's done, here it is" the way they did is exceptionally ballsy (and not in a good way).
Unfortunately, I don't see Paul, Benjamin, & co. reversing their position here. It's got me considering making my own frontend for FriendFeed, and even with me pulling my hair out trying to get my own service up and running. I really enjoy some of the changes with the beta, but a lot of them just leave me thinking "WTF" and wishing for the old site back.
Hopefully the FF team will finally pay attention to these complaints and fix things, rather than leave it as-is. But considering how many of these issues have been raised since the beginning of the beta period (without even a peep from the developers) I don't really see it happening, unfortunately.
StevenHodson
· 7 months ago
I agree with you Chris and it doesn't bode well for Friendfeed in my opinion. Even if they gave the option to switch between this stupid ass real time display and the previous refresh time frame as well as return the Source Icons I could live with the gawd awful design. I'd probably still find things that irritated me but those two things are pissing me right off
Sprague D
· 7 months ago
If their churn rate shoots up because of the weird design choices, they'll react. Perhaps they think real time will be a differentiator for them. Maybe, but aside from a small population of hardcore users, I can't think who will invest the time to make the new design work for them. I sure as hell won't. I've already noticed I'm spending more time on Twitter since the FF beta started.
StevenHodson
· 7 months ago
I've spent more time getting things done plus I've been taking a serious look at what Live.com and the interesting stuff they are doing in the social media sphere and lifestreaming
mcwflint
· 7 months ago
Yeah for getting more things done. Your post echoed so many of my feelings. I don't understand why folks ask for feedback and ignore all of it.
I find I use FF more as a local bar now - drop in when 'spare time' and 'banter time intersect.' But then we get what we pay for, don't we?
John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)
· 7 months ago
Chris, one potential issue is that according to Benjamin, work on the API is still in progress, thus delaying any moves for an new third party UI. Benjamin's own fftogo doesn't yet take advantage of the new features.
Incidentally, for those who are primarily upset about the real-time updates, give fftogo a try and see if it's better for you.
Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins
· 7 months ago
Interestingly enough, and this is something I considered doing today - someone familiar enough with the API could create an interface that worked exactly like the old version of the site, allowing for posting and reading of FF in the old style.
krishnamoorthy
· 7 months ago
As for the user interface is concerned, I am using the scrip given in :
Your points are spot on Steven, but I don't really miss the service icons
Mark Wilson
· 7 months ago
Excellent article Steven. It's like the FF Development Team lost their minds. I see a lot of self-congratulatory posts coming from Bret lately. Oh well, whatever. I'm not about to lose any more time or energy worrying about what's happening. In the grand scheme of my life, this is small potatoes.
P.S. The mockup was done by Lindsey S (aka Lindsey is Fierce) not Lindsey D.
Webomatica
· 7 months ago
Your last paragraphs have me pondering a larger subject to explore - what turns a passionate user into just a user?
John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)
· 7 months ago
I would think that a passionate user would be more likely to turn into a passionate non-user, rather than an indifferent user. But I could be wrong.
Isha
· 7 months ago
Excellent article.
I'd like to add just one thing: I used to go to the standard Friendfeed pages when I wanted to catch up (and like you I find the enforced "realtime" version stinks), and then I'd click on the "Realtime" link & then click on the "Mini-window" link. That way, I could have a coupla mini-windows of a coupla my FF list feeds open on the right of my computer screen, & do something else in the rest of the screen. Whenever there was a new addition or comment or like added to the two feeds, I'd notice out the corner of my eye.
I changed my whole work pattern & subscriptions as a result of this feature, & it was a great feature to have. It was widely praised. And now it's gone. In one day. Without notice. Friendfeed has just killed something that they gave great fanfare to & that got them lots of praise.
And guess what - I can't change my subscriptions back to what they were without taking days over it, because the new FF is so difficult to use.
Nil points Friendfeed. This could just be the beginning of your end.
Isha
· 7 months ago
I should have added in my comment above: anyone who manages to create something that I can use that is exactly like the old Realtime mini-window please let me know about it. Friendfeed user @eddale has over 5,600 subscribers to his Friendfeed, and he taught us how to use the mini-window to great effect - most of us were using it. FF realtime mini-window RIP.
jorgeblanco
· 7 months ago
The new friendfeed has many issues to handle... I can't beleive they called this out of beta... I is true that there are some new improvements that are nice to have, but definitely not at the cost of loosing everything they took away. especially since now it is not an option to have the classic interface. Didn't we all learn from the Facebook fiasco? Leaving your users without a choice is never the best option. Facebook rehashed its policies just to give users a choice... why can't we have a choice of interface wit FF? I don't know. I hope this gets better soon
All Comments
Unfortunately, I don't see Paul, Benjamin, & co. reversing their position here. It's got me considering making my own frontend for FriendFeed, and even with me pulling my hair out trying to get my own service up and running. I really enjoy some of the changes with the beta, but a lot of them just leave me thinking "WTF" and wishing for the old site back.
Hopefully the FF team will finally pay attention to these complaints and fix things, rather than leave it as-is. But considering how many of these issues have been raised since the beginning of the beta period (without even a peep from the developers) I don't really see it happening, unfortunately.
I find I use FF more as a local bar now - drop in when 'spare time' and 'banter time intersect.' But then we get what we pay for, don't we?
Incidentally, for those who are primarily upset about the real-time updates, give fftogo a try and see if it's better for you.
http://friendfeed.com/amitp/fe5ae25a/cleaner-fr...
It removes the ugly Gray BG!
P.S. The mockup was done by Lindsey S (aka Lindsey is Fierce) not Lindsey D.
I'd like to add just one thing: I used to go to the standard Friendfeed pages when I wanted to catch up (and like you I find the enforced "realtime" version stinks), and then I'd click on the "Realtime" link & then click on the "Mini-window" link. That way, I could have a coupla mini-windows of a coupla my FF list feeds open on the right of my computer screen, & do something else in the rest of the screen. Whenever there was a new addition or comment or like added to the two feeds, I'd notice out the corner of my eye.
I changed my whole work pattern & subscriptions as a result of this feature, & it was a great feature to have. It was widely praised. And now it's gone. In one day. Without notice. Friendfeed has just killed something that they gave great fanfare to & that got them lots of praise.
And guess what - I can't change my subscriptions back to what they were without taking days over it, because the new FF is so difficult to use.
Nil points Friendfeed. This could just be the beginning of your end.